Edward Allen Bernero

Contents

Background

Born on August 26, 1962, and raised on the north side of Chicago, Bernero became married at seventeen, and spent the first three years of that marriage as an Air Force family in the Philippines (two of his three children were born there).

Bernero became a Chicago Police officer in 1986, and he worked mostly in the 20th District (Foster Avenue), mainly midnights and wrote during the day, for ten years. His last day on the force was August 15, 1996.

On October, he moved to Los Angeles, and by November he had gotten his first job as a TV writer, two episodes of FX: The Series. His next assignment allowed him to meet Steven Bochco and David Milch and was given four episodes of NYPD Blue to write; they too would hire him to the staff of Brooklyn South, which lasted only one season. John Wells then hired him as Story Editor on Trinity. After that collaboration, Wells and Bernero co-created Third Watch, a series that would fed on Bernero's experiences with cops, paramedics and firefighters. During its five year run, Bernero debuted first as director and later as showrunner.

Right away, Bernero joined Criminal Minds once the pilot script was highlighted to film as a possible contender for a spot in the CBS schedule in the fall of 2005, and kept at it until the end of Season Six. It was at that point when he announced his decision to leave the series, following the cancellation of its first spin-off series due to bad ratings. During his time in both Criminal Minds and Suspect Behavior, Bernero served as showrunner, writer and director, and two of his children, Jason and Amanda, were both involved in the mothership show; Jason as writer and production crew member, while Amanda starred as minor recurring character Rebecca Bryant in three episodes and was also a production staff member for other two. Bernero continued to stay on Criminal Minds from Season Seven to Eight as a consultant.

In 2009 and 2011, he wrote and directed two pilot episodes titled Washington Fields and Partners respectively, but neither passed the networks screening, and ended being released as TV movies. In 2013 his third attempt, the European co-creation Crossing Lines, debuted with a full season order and good reviews.